Fendering device for ships



Oct. 24, 1961 c. D. ROACH 3,005,435

INVENTOR. 6/2 arles .D Roach BY @1 4, z W- W W Oct. 24, 1961 c. D. ROACH 3,005 35 FENDERING DEVICE FOR SHIPS Filed June 24. 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. C72arZes-fl Hoqzck 33 54 4. M

3,005,435 FENDERING DEVICE FOR SHIPS Charles D. Roach, 297 Richneclr Road, Newport News, Va. Filed June 24, 1960, Ser. No. 38,681 11 Claims. (Cl. 114-220) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described and illustrated herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

The present invention relates to a ship tender and more particularly concerns a tendering device adapted to be placed between a ship and an adjacent structure, such as a dock or another ship, to hold the ship out of contact with the adjacent structure. It is well known that when a ship is subjected to wave action it may have movement components relative to an adjacent structure in all three spacial planes, that is, vertically, longitudinally of the ship, and transversely of the ship.

The object of the present invention is to protect a ship from all three components of motion by eliminating abrasive forces generated by movement in the vertical and longitudinal directions and by resiliently cushioning the forces generated by movement in the transverse direction.

An additional object of the present invention is to sub- Stantially eliminate abrasive forces between the ship and the fendering .device and between the tendering device and the adjacent structure, thereby prolonging the life of the tendering device.

Various other objects and advantageous features of the invention will be obvious from the following descriptin and the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts, and where- FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tendering device constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the device shown in FiG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a plan diagrammatic view of the basic structure shown in FIGS. l-3 with the suspension means attached to a different side of the device to show an additional manner of use.

Referring now to the drawings, a chassis frame is comprised of end plates 12 which are interconnected by members 10. Four sleeves 13 are secured to the plates 12 in some convenient manner such as by welding and triangular plates 14 and 16 are welded to the plates 12 and sleeves 13 to reinforce and hold the sleeves perpendicular to the plates 12. Secured within each of the sleeves 13 is a stub axle 20. Mounted for rotation on each stub axle is a wheel comprised of a hub 17 and pneumatic inflated tire 18. The stub axles are preferably in a common plane and disposed in parallel relation so that when wheels of uniform size are used, all wheels will roll in the same direction and Contact a single plane surface.

An additional wheel comprised of hub 43 and pneumatic tire 44 is carried by a resilient structure so that the axis of rotation is spaced from the plane in which the stub axles lie. The axis is disposed generally perpendicular to the stub axles. A pair of resilient V-shaped arches of the general type disclosed in US. Patent No. 2,655,005, issued to W. P. Kinneman on October 13, 1953, are disposed in parallel relation to each other and generally parallel to the stub axles 20. Each V-shaped arch is comprised of a rigid metallic center wedge section 40 and two legs which are connected at the outer ends to the plates 12. The central wedge is fabricated Patented Oct. 24, 1961 ice of plate material with an open center and bolting flanges 41 adjacent the legs and bolting flange 45 facing the wheel 44. Each leg is fabricated of a plurality of rubber segments 32 sandwiched between and bonded to metallic plates 34. The rubber segments at the ends of the legs of both V-shaped arches are bonded to plates 31 which are secured to plates 12. The plates 33 are bolted to the plates 41 of the center wedge section.

An axle 36 passes through apertures in plates 38 and the plates 38 are secured to the axle by pinned sleeves 37 which hold the plates against the shoulders 35 of the axle. The plates 38 are then secured, preferably by bolting, to the plates 45 of the center sections 40. The additional wheel comprised of .hub 43 and tire '44 rotates on the axle 36. It will be noted that by reason of the five wheels only compressive force components normal to the chassis frame are app-lied to the device. The forces are illustrated in FIG. 3 as being applied by the side of a ship represented at 48 and an adjacent structure such as a pier, represented at 50. These normal force components are resiliently absorbed and resisted by the pneumatic tires and by the V-shaped arches in the manner described in the above cited US. patent. All other ,force components due to motion of the ship are eliminated by the wheels which roll in both the vertical and horizontaldongitudinal directions.

The above described structure is suspended alongside a ship between the ship and an adjacent structure by a harness comprised of cables .24 which, as shown .in FIGS. 1-3, are connected at one end to loops 22, which in turn are secured to plates 12-. The other ends of the cables 24 are connected to a ring .26. A suspension .line 46 is then connected to the ring 26. The other end of line 46 is connected to some suitable structure on the ship. With the suspension harness and line connected at this side of the frame structure, the four wheels 18 will roll on the side of the ship in the vertical direction as the ship falls and then rises due to wave action, whenever the additional wheel 44 is in contact with an adjacent structure. The wheel 44 will roll on the adjacent structure longitudinally of the ship or in the horizontal direction. Therefore, substantially all abrasive forces are eliminated by the rolling contact points.

It will be noted that when the device is suspended from loops 22, itcan readily be lowered over the side of the ship because the wheels 18 will roll down the side as the device is lowered. However, since the device is suspended from the ship, when the ship rises and the wheeel 44 is in contact with an adjacent structure, the suspension line will not permit the device to roll lower on the side of the ship but will lift the device as the ship rises causing the wheel 44 to skid on the adjacent structure 50. Therefore, in some cases it may be desirable to use a suspension line 46 fabricated of an elongatable material which will support the weight of the device but which will elongate under an additional force to prevent the tire 44 from skidding on the adjacent structure.

If lowering the device over the side of the ship does not present a problem in a chosen application of the device, it may be desirable to suspend the device from loops 3, both of which are connected to a single plate 12, as shown in FIG. 4. With the device suspending from this side of the frame, it will be seen that the four wheels 18 roll on the side of the ship substantially in the horizontal direction and longitudinally of the ship. Then when the additional wheel is in contact with an adjacent structure, the device will swing from the suspension line 46 like a pendulum, relative to the ship, as the ship moves in the longitudinal direction. When the ship rises and falls relative to the adjacent structure, the wheel 44 will roll on the adjacent structure in the vertical direction. 01 course, the device continues to cushion and absorb any motion normal to the side of the ship, thereby maintaining the ship out of harmful contact with the adjacent structure.

It will be appreciated that while the V-shaped arch structure provides a preferred embodiment of the present invention which is very efiicient in absorbing and cushioning forces, it may be found in specific application that the pneumatic tires provide sufi-icient resilient effects. Also, it will be noted that instead of four wheels 18, the device could be so constructed that only three points contact the surface of the side of the ship. Three or more wheels would provide a stable rolling base to support the additional wheel or any number of additional wheels in spaced relation from the side of the ship.

Or the device could be suspended from a dock with the plurality of wheels rolling on the dock, and in general the device can be used between any two adjacent structures which move relative to each other and which it is desired to maintain in spaced relationship.

Having thus described an embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that various modifications thereof can be made without departing from the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A tendering device for protecting ships from harmful contact with an adjacent structure comprising a frame having a plurality of wheels connected thereto and adapt ed to roll on the side of a ship in a first direction, an additional wheel mounted on said frame and adapted to roll on an adjacent structure in a direction normal to said first direction, and means for suspending said frame and wheels alongside a ship between the side of the ship and an adjacent structure whereby said plurality of wheels will roll on the side of the ship and said additional wheel will roll on the adjacent structure thereby preventing frictional abrasive contact between the device and the ship and the device and the adjacent structure and preventing direct contact between the ship and the adjacent structure.

2. A tendering device for protecting ships from harmful contact with an adjacent structure comprising a frame having a plurality of wheels thereon, said plurality of wheels having substantially parallel axes of rotation disposed in a common plane, an additional wheel connected to said frame and having an axis of rotation offset from said common plane and disposed at substantially right angles to said parallel axes, and means for suspending the frame and wheels thereon alongside a ship.

3. A tendering device as set out in claim 2 wherein the number of said plurality of wheels is four.

4. A tendering device as set out in claim 2 wherein said additional wheel is mounted on said frame by a resilient structure which cushions and absorbs force vectors exerted on the additional wheel in a direction normal to said common plane.

5. A tendering device as set out in claim 4 wherein said resilient structure is comprised of a pair of V-shaped members, each V-shaped member being comprised of a central rigid wedge portion and two legs joined thereto, said legs being formed of a plurality of segments of a resilient material bonded to rigid plates disposed between each of the segments, each of the legs being connected to said frame.

6. A tendering device as set out in claim 2 wherein said wheels have pneumatically inflated tires thereon.

7. A tendering device as set out in claim 2 wherein said means for suspending said frame alongside a ship is connected to said frame so that said plurality of wheels will roll on the side of the ship in a vertical direction and wherein said means for suspending the'frame is elongatable by a force in addition to the weight of the device to automatically lower the device when the ship rises relative to the adjacent structure.

8. A tendering device as set out in claim 2 wherein said means for suspending said frame alongside a ship is connected to said frame at a point so that said plurality of wheels will roll on the side of the ship substantially in the horizontal direction.

9. A tendering device for protecting ships from harmful contact with an adjacent structure comprising a frame, four wheels mounted for rotation on axles connected to said frame, said four wheels having substantially parallel axes of rotation disposed in a common plane, a pair of V-shaped resilient members disposed in parallel relation one to the other and to said axes of rotation and connected to said frame, said V-shaped members each having a central rigid wedge portion and two legs joined thereto and to said frame, said legs being formed of a plurality of segments of resilient material separated by and bonded to rigid plates disposed between consecutive segments, a fifth axle extending between and connected to said central wedge portions, a fifth wheel mounted for rotation on said fifth axle whereby the axis of rotation of said fifth wheel is normal to the axes of rotation of said four wheels and said fifth wheel is adapted to roll in a direction normal to the direction said four wheels, a pneumatically inflated tire on each Wheel, and means for suspending the frame alongside of a ship between the ship and an adjacent structure so that the four wheels will roll on the side of the ship and the fifth wheel will roll on the adjacent structure whereby the device will prevent contact between the ship and the adjacent structure.

10. A tendering device for protecting ships from harmful contact with an adjacent structure as set out in claim 9 wherein said means for suspending said frame along a ship is enlongatable and is attached to the frame at a point so that said four wheels roll on the side of the ship in the vertical direction.

11. A tendering device for protecting ships from harmful contact with an adjacent structure as set out in claim 9 wherein said means for suspending said frame alongside a ship is attached to the frame at a point so that said four wheels roll on the side of the ship in a substantially horizontal direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,655,005 Kinneman Oct. 3, 1953 2,900,946 Walker Aug. 25, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 4,234 Great Britain Apr. 24, 1913 

